What Was In the Safe

A Woodside man driving a company van to the farmers market in Springs in order to sell pickles was charged Saturday morning with 10 misdemeanors, mostly relating to possession of drugs.

East Hampton Town police said Peter Chau was pulled over on North Main Street, East Hampton, because his rear license plate was “crooked.” The officer reportedly found that Mr. Chau’s license had been suspended three times for failure to pay a fine in Queens, which led initially to his arrest.

Police then began to investigate the contents of the van, which Mr. Chau said he had picked up that morning in Glen Cove. In the front, they found a safe. Mr. Chau reportedly gave them the combination, and inside they found two large bags of marijuana and five smaller bags, altogether weighing over two ounces. They also found seven jars of prescription pills, several marked Oxycodone. Each jar had different quantities of a different mood-altering drug, police said, including alprazolam, clonazepam, amphetamine salt, and diazepam.

They also found thousands of small glassine envelopes and a large quantity of vitamins.

Asked about the vitamins and glassine envelopes at police headquarters in Wainscott, Mr. Chau, 26, stated that he had considered selling heroin. “I did a lot of research online about heroin, but I have never actually seen it in person,” he said. He learned, he said, that vitamins could be used to cut the narcotic, but had ultimately decided against getting into that business.

“I have been selling marijuana for the last year and a half, but only to my friends,” he told police. “My friend gave me the pills. I buy them from him. Sometimes he puts them in bottles for me. That’s why the bottles don’t match the pills.”

He said he had “anxiety” issues, and had been prescribed Xanax in the past. Many of the pills found were alprazolam, which is Xanax.

“I have been driving to the Hamptons for months now, and got pulled over the day I had all my shit on me. I knew it was stupid,” his statement concluded. In court the next morning, East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky prepared to set bail. He asked Mr. Chau how much money he had. The officer guarding the defendant said there was $20 in his wallet, back at the police station.

Mr. Chau told the court he had been carrying about $4,000. “That money is not available to you,” Justice Tekulsky said, indicating that police had seized it.

Bail was set at $2,000 and later posted.

A Brooklyn woman working in Montauk for the season was charged Sunday morning with nine felonies, stemming, town police said, from a shopping spree last summer with a stolen credit card.

According to police, Rachel Buck, 29, was at the Memory Motel a little after midnight on Aug. 30, 2013, when she picked up another woman’s credit card from the outdoor bar.

Interrogated by detectives on Sunday, she said that after picking up the card she went back to the resort where she was working and went to sleep. According to the charges, at that point she had committed grand larceny.

The next morning, she told detectives, who had confronted her with the credit card’s receipts, she went to Montauk Daisies, a boutique, where she made two purchases. “After I left Montauk Daisies, I went to the plaza, where there was a fair,” she said. There she bought a handbag, jewelry, and belts.

According to the charges, each time she used the card, signing its rightful owner’s name on the receipt, she was committing two felonies: forgery and possession of stolen property.

“I never meant to hurt anyone. I was broke and hardly had clothes to put on my back. I am sorry and will do whatever I can to make up for it,” Ms. Buck told police.

Bail was set the next morning at $200, which was posted, along with a stern warning from Justice Tekulsky. He cautioned her not to miss any of her scheduled court appearances, “or you’ll be right back in handcuffs.”

About the Author

T.E. McMorrow began freelancing for The Star in 2009, before coming on staff, full time, at the end of 2011. He is a member of the Drama Desk in New York. His book, “Nutcracker in Harlem,” illustrated by James Ransome, is scheduled for publication in the fall of 2016 by HarperCollins children’s division.